Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, in his address to Non-Resident Indians at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in New Delhi on Tuesday, said that in the next phase of development India needs to focus on four key sectors: agriculture, infrastructure, health and education.
He said that the 11th Plan will be finalised by August 2008 and asked experts from various fields to give their views on the Plan and promised to incorporate good suggestions in the Plan.
"The draft Plan is on the government of India Web site and you can send us your material through Internet. I promise to incorporate good suggestions intp the Plan," Montek said.
He said that India needs a second 'green revolution' where the farmers will get higher returns. "But to achieve that we would have to tackle some more serious problems, like shortage of water. To my mind, water problem is going to be more severe than the energy problem which we can deal with," he said.
"In infrastructure, health and education we need private and public participation. For rapid growth in the remotest parts of the country, we need to have the best infrastructure in place. We have already given ports to the private sectors in some places and modernisation of the airports is also being handled by private sector."
"We need quality education and healthcare for our people. We need to have more universities that can give quality education to our children. We would love to know what kind of healthcare system would work best in the Indian conditions particularly in the rural sectors," he said.
He requested the Indian Diaspora to set up fora of their own so that they could send regular feedback to the government of India on various projects from time to time. "This would help us a great deal because you have the advantage looking at things from a distance," he said.
Sitaram Yechuri, CPM politburo member and Member of Rajya Sabha, said that India must convert 540 million youth under the age of 25 into an assest rather than treat them as liability. "Growth rate of 8 per cent or 9 per cent is good but we must find a solution to the problem of farmers' suicides," he said.